As Doug and I finished with the couse design, we realized a few missed opportunities as far as alternate pin positions. More basket sleeves would be fairly cheap and easy to add (GDGO?), and in the woods I dont think the 2x2 concrete collar is needed.

This is basically, "Damn, why didn't we put a sleeve there?!!" Here are my suggestions:

- #5, Back and right, about 20-30' past the longest position. This would make a more technical and harder throw be good for the birdie, right now its pretty easy if you hit the first gap. There is a nice empty space back there, minimal clearing.- #12, Back and left, about 25' past the longest position. There is an obvious and very nice line leading to this spot. Minimal clearing of briars and small privet.- #18, Short and RIght, for a solid par 3 option. The B position is kinda lame.

The more (good) pin options the better. We could get county permission and knock this out on a Saturday easily. Anyone else have thoughts on this?

I would like to see this happen, I would be willing to help if needed.

Some more ideas: #8 20-40 feet right of the current position making for a much sharper curve.#10 Deeper and right of the short central position; for this we would just need to cut a small hole in the the woods.#13 50+ feet right of the long position. It really doesn't have to be cut that deep into the woods, 20 feet would even be cool, but it would be nice to add some extra footage with all the space available there.

#4 Could have a super short placement just outside of the tree line but 30+ feet to the left.

Hole 5's tee pad sucks now with that damn 8x8 block of wood there.It needs to be moved back up the hill about 3 feet and angle the ends.Mud can still slide around the front.It is in the way! I hope that it gets changed!

Al 7.0 Olds wrote:Hole 5's tee pad sucks now with that damn 8x8 block of wood there.It needs to be moved back up the hill about 3 feet and angle the ends.Mud can still slide around the front.It is in the way! I hope that it gets changed!

I'm going to ask them to change this. It's not very safe where it is. Left-handed players hate it more.

What about all the limbs and brush laying around between #3 and between #4 and #5 fairways. Is it the parksresponsibility to clean it up? not what they cut last week. i tried to clean some of the vines and briars on #8 near thepin to the left.

Renoryn wrote:As Doug and I finished with the couse design, we realized a few missed opportunities as far as alternate pin positions. More basket sleeves would be fairly cheap and easy to add (GDGO?), and in the woods I dont think the 2x2 concrete collar is needed.

This is basically, "Damn, why didn't we put a sleeve there?!!" Here are my suggestions:

- #5, Back and right, about 20-30' past the longest position. This would make a more technical and harder throw be good for the birdie, right now its pretty easy if you hit the first gap. There is a nice empty space back there, minimal clearing.- #12, Back and left, about 25' past the longest position. There is an obvious and very nice line leading to this spot. Minimal clearing of briars and small privet.- #18, Short and RIght, for a solid par 3 option. The B position is kinda lame.

The more (good) pin options the better. We could get county permission and knock this out on a Saturday easily. Anyone else have thoughts on this?

First of all the Alex is great and TEAM ALEX is phenominal, but........

Have you guys considered some "pro" tee pads out there? I think elongating some holes would be the most beneficial thing. Moving baskets is always fun, but why not plant some trees as obstacles, put baskets on slopes or things of that nature. The Alex will BE AWESOME in a few years, but maybe a few things to make it tougher now are the best solution. I live 40 minutes away but as always, like I am at CP, I am able to help pretty much whenever.

The trouble with adding tee pads is mainly cost and logistics. If we are adding a few basket sleeves, thats a couple hundred dollars, 10 guys with saws and shovels, and a days work. Adding tee pads is hundreds, maybe into thousands of dollars, heavy clearing, cement trucks, and skilled concrete guys. You have to get permission for Parks to add either, but permission for sleeves would be way easier. Also, there might be room on a handful of holes for longer tees, but it would't work on about half of them. (without throwing over paths)

Dont get me wrong, from the beginning I wanted a 3rd set of tees, but we simply didn't have the room. I say we try to improve on what we have in whatever ways are feasible. I think adding trees/shrubs is a good option, just need to figure out funding, locations, installation...

Thoughs? I say once we get a plan of action, we schedule a workday in the spring. Add sleeves, plant some trees/shrubs, make this a better course. Awesome.

Oh yeah I know how expensive it is for all of this. I am in progress with Dawson County P & R to put a course up there.

Anyway, forget the Spring, have a fundraiser tourney, let people at the event vote on locations for longer pins, do something like "if you park it, you mark it" and put trees/shrubs there. Have a Long Drive competition and let people bet on participants to help raise money. Give vouchers to the winner and something to 2nd and 3rd. We are thinking about putting in sand traps possibly here at CP, you guys could do that. Endless options to make a good course great.

I am only 40 minutes out and can help whenever! Just let me know. You guys are awesome and I wish CP have more of an active group then a few active players.

The best idea I've seen on this thread is the elevated basket. While a couple more pins placements would be good, I would hate to see it get out of control like at Redan. People adding pins wherever they consistantly shank it to. No offense, but the "you park it, you mark it" idea is terrible at best. I'm all for course improvements and as I consider this my home course I am always willing to put in a few man hours.

But as Lofstrand said, an elevated basket or two on the straightfowad holes would definitely add an element of dificulty as well as something cool to look at (if done well)

Not actually marking it physically, like mark it on the card. Meant more so to establish the holes lacking a consistent degree of difficulty. Obvioulsy 1, 2, 16 could use some attention to make them not so easy. Guard a few basket with some trees and it takes away a par for some. Even put trees out in the fairway in front of the tees to alter shots.

But hey whatever, I agree an elevated basket or two is a great idea. I played a course in Birmingham, AL that had one.

If the elevated basket sounds like an idea that Team Alexander would want to look into, check out what they did in Savannah. About 3 dozen railroad ties and a crap load of dirt. The size of the "pyramid" allows for a safer climb to the top and decreases the chances that a missed putt will land and not roll away. They had grass planted up top too; it just hasn't sprouted yet. or something less extreme

We had a very successful meeting with the Gwinnett County yesterday, and I'm happy to report we have permission for new pin placements at both parks. With the County supplying augers and the GDGO supplying the sleeves and cement we will have County/GDGO Volunteer Work Days this spring. Thanks for your pin placement suggestions, and please keep them coming for both parks.

* One elevated basket per park is feasible, with the County providing machinery (if needed) and the GDGO providing the supplies. Let's take our time designing these, so they will be a pleasure to the eye and a challenge to the arm.

Last edited by Vicki on Tue Feb 09, 2010 1:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Not sure about "c" placements, but I played Alexander on Sunday and I liked the layout. Some of the pins were different from where I had seen them in the past. I almost skip aced #14 in the shorter position. Nailed chains and slipped through. Shot a -8 and felt pretty happy about it.

My choices for an elevated pin would be 2, 4,or 18. #2 is the best candidate as I could envision the basket being in view over the top of the shrubs that are planted in front after they grow out. Plus the difference between the #2's 2 existing placements are very similar.

It's my opinion that elevated baskets are OK as long as they are done right. I've played several courses that had these types of baskets and some of them were so poorly installed it made the round un-enjoyable. If any of you have played Hornets Nest in Charlotte, the 2 tweener holes that they added in with elevated baskets are absolute crap. Along with #17 on that same course. If you take the time and effort to build something nice, like at Winthrop for the USDGC or the new pin on 4 in Savannah, I think it's worth it and adds value to the layout.

Just an opinion from someone that has played his fair share of elevated baskets.

richardhead wrote:It's my opinion that elevated baskets are OK as long as they are done right.

Agreed. I've not been impressed with a couple of them that I've played, but the one in the twisted tree at Flyboy is pretty cool. The GDGO has some cash and can raise funds for proper landscaping stones, etc.

We will put a premium on aesthetics and playability. I would vote no to landscape timbers, but yes to landscape stones (Lofstrand pictures 2 and 3 in the other thread look pretty good to me).

I have played several courses with elevated baskets as well and I have never liked it. To me it is one of the most unprofessional seeming and most over all circus feeling new trends in the game. I think it's only comparable to something you would see on a putt putt course. I agree with Jay that they are the absolute worst in Charlotte and the best looking at least at the USDGC but even Climo has made comments indicating his dislike for them in a politically correct way. Hopefully the PDGA will standardize basket heights one day but I doubt it. For the time and effort it will probably take to build an elevated basket done "right" you could probably add a few longer tee pads which would overall make the course a lot better in my opinion.

An idea for #1, instead of an elevated basket, why not accentuate the natural terrain by building a small hill around 3/4 of the face of the basket to increase the chance for rollaways and also accent the steep dropoff on the other side? It would make parking a shot that much harder to do and that much riskier.

Be innovative and move us towards the professionalism of ball golf - All new targets should be holes in the ground! Dig a hole 3 feet deep, put a grate 2 feet down so discs don't land in the muck, stick in a bicycle flag to mark the spot, and BAM! new pin position.

+ inexpensive+ no more cut-throughs or spit-outs!+ roller aces! roller putts!+ all positions in play all the time!+ easy to mow around, no damaged collars+ resistant to vandalism+ easy to experiment and move positions around+ no complaints about unsightly targets by non-players

- no sound of crashing chains- small dogs and d-wiz may fall in, never to be seen again

I think hole #1 would make a great artificial island hole. Since they have to mow the grass I'm not sure of the best way to have it marked off, maybe have a few bushes planted on each side of the hole that form a square of inbounds area; then in tourney's they could string some rope around the bushes to make it more obvious. The hole could be played where there are no penalties for throwing OB you just retee throwing 2, then 3 etc. That would turn one of the most plain holes into one of the best !

Big Red wrote:Sadly this has also basically been done as well at the hippodrome and at trophy lakes. You didn't know about that did you?

Not the same - you dismiss my out-of-box thinking out-of-hand.

Where would ball golf be if they'd kept the original goal - chipping a walnut up into a hollowed out stump!

That would at least make more sense than a miniature golf obstacle modified for use in disc golf. Oh, and it is the same, have you even seen them or are you dismissing the reality of the buried baskets out of hand?

Big Red wrote:Sadly this has also basically been done as well at the hippodrome and at trophy lakes. You didn't know about that did you?

Not the same - you dismiss my out-of-box thinking out-of-hand.

Where would ball golf be if they'd kept the original goal - chipping a walnut up into a hollowed out stump!

That would at least make more sense than a miniature golf obstacle modified for use in disc golf. Oh, and it is the same, have you even seen them or are you dismissing the reality of the buried baskets out of hand?

Not sunken baskets - holes in the ground, maybe even smaller diameter than a basket. With a nice manicured putting circle for roller putts, maybe some low-hanging branches on a few holes to encourage rolling it in.

Does limit the terrain though. Hard to beat a pole hole if you want a target on a woody, rocky hillside. It'd also be tough to make a portable hole-in-the-ground for temp courses.

#17 - 20' behind pond on right side. clear out some trees for the risk takers but leave a few farthest to the right. this would allow for aces, birdies, dolphins and lay-ups (fairway to the right.) this would also provide a legitimate reason for losing a disc in the water because right now there isn't one.

By clearing out the front side of the pond it has added a bit of difficulty some.